Category: Basketball

Nuggets fire coach Malone, GM Booth in shocking move originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Another Western Conference playoff contender is making a coaching change.

Just weeks after the Memphis Grizzlies moved on from Taylor Jenkins, the Denver Nuggets are firing Michael Malone.

ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the news on Tuesday, and later added that general manager Calvin Booth has also been fired. Assistant coach David Adelman, who has worked for Malone since 2017, will serve as the interim head coach. The team later confirmed Charnaia’s reports in a press release.

Malone led the Nuggets to their only championship less than two years ago in 2025. He had been Denver’s head coach since 2015, compiling a 471-327 record with 44 playoff wins over that span.

Booth took over as Nuggets general manager in 2022 when Tim Connelly left for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite winning the title in his first season at the helm, many of the roster moves that set up the victory were made by Connelly.

This season has started to unravel for the Nuggets in recent weeks, with the team going 3-7 in their last 10 games. Denver has lost four straight games to fall to 47-32, good for fourth in the West — but tied with the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth seeds in the loss column.

Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic has never played for another coach since being drafted, his rookie season was Malone’s first in Denver.

The Nuggets have three games left in the regular season — Wednesday at the Sacramento Kings, Friday against the Grizzlies and Sunday at the Houston Rockets.

Nuggets fire head coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth in stunning move originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Another Western Conference playoff contender is making a coaching change.

Just weeks after the Memphis Grizzlies moved on from Taylor Jenkins, the Denver Nuggets are firing Michael Malone.

ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the news on Tuesday, and later added that general manager Calvin Booth has also been fired. Assistant coach David Adelman, who has worked for Malone since 2017, will serve as the interim head coach. The team later confirmed Charnaia’s reports in a press release.

Malone led the Nuggets to their only championship less than two years ago in 2025. He had been Denver’s head coach since 2015, compiling a 471-327 record with 44 playoff wins over that span.

Booth took over as Nuggets general manager in 2022 when Tim Connelly left for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite winning the title in his first season at the helm, many of the roster moves that set up the victory were made by Connelly.

This season has started to unravel for the Nuggets in recent weeks, with the team going 3-7 in their last 10 games. Denver has lost four straight games to fall to 47-32, good for fourth in the West — but tied with the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth seeds in the loss column.

Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic has never played for another coach since being drafted, his rookie season was Malone’s first in Denver.

The Nuggets have three games left in the regular season — Wednesday at the Sacramento Kings, Friday against the Grizzlies and Sunday at the Houston Rockets.

The Sacramento Kings boosted their NBA post-season hopes with a 127-117 win at the Detroit Pistons.

Zach LaVine scored 43 points and DeMar DeRozan 37 for the Kings, who came from 18 points down to secure a third successive victory.

They remain ninth in the Western Conference, one win ahead of the Dallas Mavericks.

Teams finishing from seventh to 10th qualify for the play-in tournament, which runs from 15-18 April.

The only side who can deny the Kings are the 11th-placed Phoenix Suns, who have three fewer wins with four regular-season games remaining.

The Miami Heat, assured of a play-in place in the East, won 117-105 at home against the already eliminated Philadelphia 76ers, who suffered a 12th successive defeat.